Forensic examiners frequently conduct evaluations with individuals who may be regarded as dangerous. To manage this situation, forensic examiners may prefer examinees to wear restraints. Available literature indicates that the use of restraints may be both physically and psychologically detrimental and thus possibly both reduces the yield and limits the
Do scores on the HCR-20 and FAM predict frequency of self-harm in females within a secure psychiatric hospital? [2018]
The Historical, Clinical, and Risk Management scales (HCR-20) and the Female Additional Manual (FAM) are violence risk assessment tools. This study aimed to examine whether scores on the HCR-20 and FAM are related to frequency of self-harm. HCR-20 Version 3 and FAM scores and frequency of self-harm across the following
Personality Traits Differentiate Subgroups of Criminal Offenders With Distinct Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Profiles – 2018
Mental illness and substance use disorder are prominent among jail and prison inmates. Developing more effective mental and behavioral health treatment approaches for incarcerated criminal offenders is a critical step toward reducing rates of recidivism and relapse following release. Specifying subgroups of offenders who differ in cognitive, affective, behavioral, and
Physical and mechanical restraint in psychiatric units: Perceptions and experiences of nursing staff – 2018
Highlights • Nurses consider the physical restraint unpleasant, challenging, risky and conflicting. • The majority of nursing staff suffered accidents related to restraint, most of them involving biological material exposure. • Some nursing professionals considered physical restraint normal, therapeutic, punitive, or educational resource. • The nursing assistants were more likely
Re-building Trust after Physical Restraint During Involuntary Psychiatric Hospitalization – 2018
This study attempted to identify the elements which might best minimize the negative consequences of restriction of inpatients and rebuild therapeutic alliance and trust. Through in depth interviews with 15 psychiatric patients who had experience restrained during the last involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. Analysis of the data revealed three major themes
Antisocial features are not predictive of symptom exaggeration in forensic patients – 2018
Purpose To investigate the predictive value of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and features of ASPD (i.e., lack of remorse, blame externalization, and deceitfulness) for symptom exaggeration. Methods A sample of forensic psychiatric patients (N = 57) was asked to complete several self‐report instruments (measuring symptom exaggeration, lack of remorse, blame
European Psychiatric Association (EPA) guidance on forensic psychiatry: Evidence based assessment and treatment of mentally disordered offenders – 2018
Forensic psychiatry in Europe is a specialty primarily concerned with individuals who have either offended or present a risk of doing so, and who also suffer from a psychiatric condition. These mentally disordered offenders (MDOs) are often cared for in secure psychiatric environments or prisons. In this guidance paper we
An evaluation of a specialist firesetting treatment programme for male and female mentally disordered offenders (the FIP‐MO) – 2017
Individuals who set deliberate fires are frequently encountered by clinicians working in forensic mental health services. However, little attention has been paid to developing standardised treatment for this behaviour, and few evaluations of treatment have been conducted in forensic mental health services. This study evaluates a new standardised group cognitive
Criminal responsibility: Meta‐analysis and study space – 2018
While some correlates of criminal responsibility (CR) outcomes are consistent, others are not. Study‐level characteristics, such as sample selection, variability in the operational definition of insanity, or other unknown influences may explain discrepant findings. It is critical to systematically consolidate and assess the literature in order to guide future work.
Insanity findings and evaluation practices: A state‐wide review of court‐ordered reports – 2018
Evaluations of legal sanity are some of the most complex and consequential mental health evaluations that forensic clinicians perform for the courts. Thus, there is strong reason to monitor the wide‐scale process and conclusions of sanity evaluations. In this study, we review 1,111 court‐ordered sanity evaluation reports submitted by 74
Insanity defense typology – 2018
Much has been written about how to conduct insanity defense evaluations, as well as how to operationalize the legal definitions of insanity. However, the insanity defense has never been categorized by a typology. This article describes a typology of six subtypes of the insanity defense: paranoid self‐defense, “but it’s mine,”
Discerning bias in forensic psychological reports in insanity cases – 2018
This project began as an attempt to develop systematic, measurable indicators of bias in written forensic mental health evaluations focused on the issue of insanity. Although forensic clinicians observed in this study did vary systematically in their report‐writing behaviors on several of the indicators of interest, the data are most
Recording routine forensic mental health evaluations should be a standard of practice in the 21st century – 2018
The standard of practice for forensic interviews in criminal and delinquency cases, other than those conducted as part of brief preliminary screening evaluations or in emergency situations, should include a digital recording requirement. This standard should be adopted because of the greater availability of, and familiarity with, recording technology on
Patient characteristics and outcome measurement in a low secure forensic hospital – 2017
Background Health services are increasingly required to measure outcomes after treatment, which can be reported to the funding body and may be scrutinised by the public. Extensive high‐quality measurements are time consuming. Routinely collected clinical data might, if anonymised, provide good enough evidence of useful change consequent on service received.
Promoting exercise behaviour in a secure mental health setting: Healthcare assistant perspectives – 2018
Individuals with severe mental illness engage in significantly less amounts of physical activity than the general population. A secure mental health setting can exacerbate barriers to exercise, and facilitate physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour. Healthcare assistants are intimately involved in the daily lives of patients and, therefore, should be considered
Who’s going to leave? An examination of absconding events by forensic inpatients in a psychiatric hospital – 2018
Absconding is a potentially risky event that has wide reaching consequences both for the institution and greater community; however, few studies have examined the characteristics of clients who abscond, their motivations, and details about their absconding event, especially within a forensic context. The purpose of this research was to determine
Psychosocial approaches for individuals with schizophrenia in correctional and forensic psychiatric settings: a rapid review – 2018
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the psychosocial approaches that have been studied and for which positive outcomes have been reported for individuals with schizophrenia in correctional and forensic psychiatric settings. Design/methodology/approach A rapid review of the literature was undertaken. A search was conducted on MEDLINE and
Recording routine forensic mental health evaluations should be a standard of practice in the 21st century – 2018
The standard of practice for forensic interviews in criminal and delinquency cases, other than those conducted as part of brief preliminary screening evaluations or in emergency situations, should include a digital recording requirement. This standard should be adopted because of the greater availability of, and familiarity with, recording technology on
Co-Occurring Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders in Canadian Forensic Inpatients: Underdiagnosis and Implications for Treatment Planning – 2018
Research suggests that co-occurring substance use disorder (SUD) is prevalent among adults with psychiatric illness. Studies with forensic patients in Australia indicate that co-occurring disorders (CD) are underdiagnosed. To help determine how widespread CD underdiagnosis is in forensic populations internationally, we compared current diagnoses recorded in the clinical record with
Uncovering Naturalistic Rewards and their Subjective Value in Forensic Psychiatric Patients – 2018
The use of relevant reinforcers during treatment is essential for successful interventions. This especially applies to forensic psychiatric populations, which are known to be resistant to treatment. However, it is not clear which rewards are of importance for different types of forensic patients. The aim of the present study was